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Nikon announces first camera to use new XQD cards

Nikon will be the first to market with the new XQD next-generation memory card …

Nikon announced the Nikon D4, its newest flagship professional DSLR, on January 5. The D4 will be the first to use the latest XQD memory card format, the successor to the venerable CompactFlash. On the same day, Sony announced it will produce the first cards in the XQD format in 16GB and 32GB sizes.

Last month, the Compact Flash Association announced the next-generation XQD memory card format was forthcoming in early 2012. The new cards, smaller than CompactFlash and just slightly larger than Secure Digital cards, are based on PCI Express and start at 125MB/s transfer rates. As the cards improve, data transfer rates can ramp up to 250MB/s or higher as PCIe evolves.

According to Sony, its XQD cards can store 100 16.2MP RAW images from the Nikon D4 without a pause. Likewise, the cards can record full 1080p HD video from the D4 until the card fills up.

A 16GB Sony XQD card will retail for $129.99, while a 32GB card will run $229.99. Sony is also offering a USB3 card reader and an ExpressCard adapter for $44.99 each.

Nikon's full-frame 16.2MP D4 camera has a slew of improved features, including a 51-point autofocus system, 91,000 pixel 3D color matrix meter, and ISO sensitivity as high as 204,800. Its new high speed EXSPEED 3 processor can funnel 16-bit RAW files to a XQD card at 10 frames per second.

The Nikon D4 will be available in late February for $5,999.95. We'll get an early look at the D4 and the new XQD cards in a meeting with Nikon at next week's CES.

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